These 8 chicken coops designed by Houzz users will have you clucking in admiration — and maybe even planning a henhouse of your own

Whether you're an urban farmer in the making or a well-versed country gardener, it's hard to resist the appeal of chickens. While they're plenty of work — and can make a big mess — the general consensus is that the benefits far outweigh the downsides.

Of course, the coop is a huge part of having chickens. These little guys are completely dependent on their owners for safety and are extremely sensitive to space, light and ventilation.

We asked you to share photos of your henhouses. Scroll down to view eight of our favorites.

1.Aimee Carpenter made this chicken coop, Chateau de Poulet, out of her daughter's old playhouse. Recently, she added new siding, a metal roof and paint. The playhouse was modified to include nesting boxes, roosts, a door, a ramp and chicken wire over the windows to keep predators out.

Carpenter's new coop is a chicken paradise. The exterior nesting boxes have viewing windows and can be accessed from the outside, which makes collecting eggs a bit easier. The coop also has a solar light and a solar fan inside. The fan kicks in at a certain temperature, which helps keep the space cool in the summer. The middle section, fenced in with chicken wire, connects the chicken coop to the goat house — a favorite spot for the hens on rainy days.

Sheet fiberglass lines the walls, making them totally scrubbable — a great touch in what can quickly become a smelly space. The roosts in this coop are also hinged and lift up to hook to the ceiling, which allows Carpenter to clean the floor without having to work around them.

She installed natural branches instead of round poles, which she found most chickens prefer. All the windows open for ventilation and light, and heavy-gauge wire is layered underneath the window framing to keep raccoons out.

2.Leslie Divoli of West Palm Beach, Florida, has kept chickens for the past five or six years. What started out as two hens, a rooster and four chicks has now grown into a flock of 62 chickens. Divoli's coops are walk-in, which makes cleaning easier. A self-closing door with a hands-free latch makes sure that no one gets locked in.

Since Florida is ridden with snakes, the biggest challenge has been making the structures snakeproof. "Every climate has different design demands," Divoli says. "A Chicago coop and a Miami coop should be different. In our climate, the main shelter needs are shade, cool breeze, protection from intense rain and security from predators."

3.Michelle Carlisle has kept chickens for three and a half years in her Saint Croix Falls, Wisconsin, home. She wanted her coop to be as low maintenance as possible. "I tried to be logical with how I set things up," she says. "I put the food and water right next to the door, so they'd be easy to grab when we have to fill them in the winter. The nest boxes are in easy reach of the door too."

Since plenty of predators live in the woods surrounding her house, safety was particularly important. "The best thing we did was completely enclose the coop into a secure yard, so that if we wanted to leave for a few days in the summer, we can just leave their little chicken door open."

4. For her first flock of chickens, Vicki Smith wanted an inexpensive but durable coop that would look great in the yard of her 140-year-old Pennsylvania farmhouse. She wasn't sure how she'd feel about having chickens and didn't want to invest a lot of money. She kept it simple electricity-wise, with a power cord from her back deck running to the coop for a water heater and light.

Smith didn't want to have to get on her hands and knees to clean, so she placed the coop on legs so that she could back her Gator up to it and rake the litter into the truck bed. But since she'd have to crawl in and do maintenance from time to time, she had to make it sturdy with a big entrance. The pen is about 200 square feet total and can house her six chickens with plenty of breathing room.

"My main suggestion for anyone building their own coop is to keep it simple and have fun with it. If building your own miniature Cape Cod for your flock is within your abilities, go for it. Chickens have a few basic requirements for space, roosts, nest boxes and predator protection. After that, you can do whatever you want — or whatever your neighbors or local government will accept."

5.Cheri Mitchell of Winnie, Texas, rescued her Godl Dutch Bantams from a training facility for duck hunting dogs. After snagging two hens and a rooster from certain death, she realized she needed to build a place for them to live. This cute little house has wheels on it, so it can be pulled along with the chicken run to fertilize different parts of the yard and keep the chicken run fresh and clean.

The coop itself has six nests, which Mitchell made out of milk crates. Having heard horror predator stories, Mitchell lined her chicken house with ½-inch-thick hardware cloth — a sturdy netting that's stronger than chicken wire and has much smaller holes. There are also two layers of hardware cloth on the floor to prevent rats and snakes from burrowing in.

6. Although she and her family wanted chickens, Cassie Ward also wanted a coop that was as low maintenance as possible. As a mother and an elementary school teacher, she didn't have a ton of time to devote to these little creatures. As a result, she created a henhouse with two large doors that swing open, allowing for cleaning at waist level. Nesting boxes open out into a nook that's easy for collecting eggs, and a deep bedding system means she needs to completely clean out the coop only a few times a year.

The upper level of the coop has two vents, which help prevent common chicken respiratory problems. This 60-square-foot space is chock-full of security measures — strong metal fencing, brick footing that extends 8 inches into the ground to protect from digging predators, and padlocking latches.

"Locate the coop in a place where the hens can choose sun or shade, if possible. Chickens love to stretch out on the ground in the sunshine for afternoon naps," Ward says. "And be sure to let your hens have access to an outdoor run. Chickens that are cooped up all the time will not be happy. They'll let you and your neighbors know exactly how they feel."

7. Kathy Siegel's Los Angeles coop was designed around a beautiful salvaged window that her husband found. Using Google Sketch-Up, Siegel designed the house to incorporate air, light and plenty of protection. The coop has a series of screened areas under the rafters, which allows for clean air circulation. The structure is nestled against a retaining wall, so Siegel had to design all the entries and exits through one set of side doors.

8.Washington state resident Gwen Weertsand her husband were excited to become first-time chicken owners but had a hard time figuring out where to put their coop in their tiny yard. They have an extensive garden, and giving the chickens free range might destroy everything. The one perfect spot was interrupted by a maple tree stump, so the couple built around it, letting it become part of the coop.

To give their chickens the sun and shade they crave, the couple extended the coop's roof to cover 70 percent of the run, with 30 percent uncovered for sunny, dry days. Washington is known for its wet weather, so this also prevents the run from becoming a giant pit of mud.

Great coops, and it's fantastic to see Houzz branching out. Good job with the predator protection guys! A few points - Coops in the US are better with a whole mesh side for ventilation. Think a roof over a dog kennel with one solid wall, and one protected nesting nook.
Second, the word coop covers a number of structures. You can have a coop building in a larger yard pen for fulltime confinement, or a smaller arrangement just for nighttime. You can have a mobile tractor arrangement, which is a portable pen. It may be a supplement to the nighttime coop or it may be all you use, so some are stronger than others. The tractor allows the chickens to clear and till the area underneath. Happy farming y'all!

These images of all the different chicken coops are great. Anyone can produce eggs!
From a very small backyard coop for 2 or three hens to a barnyard with enough eggs to start a business. http://movablechickencoops.net has a good small coop review.
Urban chicken farming is on the rise, organic eggs are getting more and more expensive, producing your own makes sense.

These are all amazing coops! Thought I would share a couple pics of mine. I live in an urban area, and wanted a coop that was functional and stylish. The overall size of the coop is 6'x10' (including the run). I wanted the height, so it was easy for me to clean. I also had it made with a wire bottom on the top level coop so the droppings fall into the compost area below for cleanliness and for future use in my garden. We added two perches in the coop and one in the run.There are 3 nesting boxes, which have an access door for easy retrieval. It has been a very low maintenance coop and my chickens are very happy :)

We live in southern Alberta, Canada. Every Easter we get 25 day old chicks so that our grandchildren can enjoy holding and caring for them after a few weeks, they out grow our garage or sunny atrium, and we share them to a local farmer. After this article, we might encourage our kids to raise them I their local town, and we would be get build these five star hen houses!

Have had chicken rurally for years. My advice to newbies, just get hens and forgo the roosters. They need MANY hens to be satisfied and only a few hens causes them to think YOU are their hen and the fight is on. Let the hens take care of your bugs. Throw their poop in a compost pile and let it compost first. If you get them as day or two old chicks you can train them to come when you call because they expect food. They love your kitchen scraps!

This is my ideal chicken tractor, Open on the bottom but mobile with retractable wheels and wheelbarrow style handles on the other side. 6 hens and a rooster call this home. The outside run is optional when we need them to clean up a larger area where the garden is going in. This was very simple and easy to build with 2x2 pine lumber.

These are really nice coops.My husband built one and we painted the ceiling blue like clouds and painted the walls green with pumpkin patches and a big barn and cherry trees....Thats an ides for those of you who want some ideas on what to paint on the inside!

I have a last chance farm animal rescue in MA. Always remember there are many chickens that need saving. Don't be afraid to have a few Roosters either! Avoid buying from online, they cull the poor male baby chicks by throwing them live in an auger... Always have a secure flight pen complete with a roof to keep predators out.. Free roaming chickens will draw predators and will eventually all disappear .. Weasels and snakes can in to any size hole. Make sure to put your chickens in every night! Especially in the Spring when predators have their own babies to feed!!

Here are some pics of the coop I just finished, it has been a long winter here in Montana and it helped keep me busy, I built the coop on a skid like frame so I could build it in the shop and pull it out. I may keep moving it from the front field to the back one if it works well and the local varmits don't bother the chickens too bad. Great Site you have here by the way

united electric, nice job, I like how you matched your shop and that you built it with the ability to move it with a skid steer or tractor with forks. Smart. Is that a plastic cutting board your using for the door? Is that intentional or a handy way to repurpose something you had around the house?

The cutting board was used because I had problems in the past with the plywood doors I made expanding over time when they got wet so I figured these won't do that and my Wife got some new cutting boards out of the deal. I have the doors on a pull chain also, I will post those pics sometime

My husband and I just recently built a chicken coop. He built the coop, and of course I had to make it "pretty". We've been having a ball with our hens! They really do have a personality. Our girls love their "bedroom" and show it by leaving us eggs everyday.

We've had chickens for about 1 1/2 years now, all because my husband wanted fresh eggs. We live in suburban NJ. Great learning experience for the whole family! Word to the wise...beware of hawks! Not all swoop down from the air. We lost one of our chickens because a cooper hawk found a small gap in our protective wire netting and got inside the run. Chickens are fun, though. Whenever I work in the garden, one of the chickens can't wait until I'm done digging and will literally ride on the the shovel if I let her. Hysterical! :o) Had to fence off my hostas after they ate them all last year.

My husband and I are new at keeping backyard chickens. We recently finished our coop. I wanted it to be Houzz-worthy, so we went the extra mile. I named it Chykkindor--think Gryffindor--and painted a crest to go with it as well. My only regret is not making the run larger. That can be our next project!